Versteeg sits out practice, questionable for Canadiens Thursday

February 13, 2013|By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel

CORAL SPRINGS — — Panthers coach Kevin Dineen doesn't believe in moral victories, so there was no way he would show his shellshocked team the Oscar-nominated "Silver Linings Playbook" at practice instead of the video of Tuesday's disastrous 6-5 overtime loss to the struggling Capitals.

"That's a tough loss to swallow,'' Dineen said. "We all have ownership and have things we wish we'd do differently, but we dealt with it on the ice this morning. … The schedule isn't kind, but it's set up where we need to put ourselves on a nice roll at home.''

Despite blowing a two-goal lead in the final 5:07 and handing the last-place Capitals their first road win and three of four points in the home-and-home set, there were plenty of positives.

•The Panthers went from 29th in the league with 11 5-on-5 goals to tied for 26th, as all five goals came at even strength.

"That's huge,'' forward Jack Skille said. "It takes pressure off the power play and helps them go out there with more confidence.''

•The "kiddie corps" trio of rookies Jonathan Huberdeau and Drew Shore, along with 24-year-old "veteran" Peter Mueller continues to be the Panthers' top line as they combined for three goals and three assists. Huberdeau notched his first multiple-goal game and Shore finally got his first NHL goal in his 10th game.

"They made a statement,'' Dineen said. "What they bring is a contagious enthusiasm that guys, whether it's [Ed Jovanovski, Marcel Goc or Tomas Kopecky], can all feed off that.''

Dineen blamed some of the collapse on a lack of composure, but also on poor stick control. Dineen was referring to defenseman Erik Gudbranson getting his stick knocked out of his hands during Eric Fehr's goal at 14:53 of the third.

He also was alluding to Huberdeau's ill-timed slashing penalty that set up Alex Ovechkin's tying goal.

"You need to have good sticks and part of that is having two hands on the stick,'' Dineen said.

Versteeg injured

Shawn Matthias took several of Kris Versteeg's shifts because he sustained an upper-body injury after being hammered into the boards by Ovechkin in the first period.

Versteeg returned but didn't practice Wednesday. Dineen said he's questionable for Thursday's game against the Canadiens.

Shore scores

After several close calls, Shore finally got No. 1 on his 24th shot when, after Skille drove to the net, he swatted the puck in. However, the referee originally waved the goal off and it went to review because of a possible high stick.

"I was staring at the replay all the time,'' Shore smiled. "I just wanted to get that first one. I was kind of laughing because I had a lot of good chances the first couple of games and now I finally bat one out of the air. It's ironic.''

Goalies slump

For the first time in Dineen's brief tenure, both goalies, Scott Clemmensen and Jose Theodore, are struggling at the same time, but he wouldn't consider bringing up prospect Jacob Markstrom.

The Panthers are last in the NHL in goals-against per game at 3.83, compared to last year's 2.63 GAA (12th).

"We've got two goalies right now that are proven NHL guys,'' he said. "They have not performed up to their expectations these last couple of games. For us to have success they've got to be better and we've got to be better as a team.''